The Everlasting Covenant - 2.7 Great Controversy (1)

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2.7 The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan
by Hubert F. Sturges, www.everlastingcovenant.com, October 2009

Topics:
Is There a Devil?
Where it All Began
A Special Council with the Angels
Quiet Dissent
Open Rebellion
Sin must be Fully Exposed
The Longsuffering of God
Lucifer, the Highest Angel in Heaven
The War in Heaven
Satan’s Purposes Now

The second topic is a lengthy quotation for your interest from Ellen G. White, in her book Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 35-42. It is a “behind the scenes” view of how sin began. As you read this you will note a number of instances where Satan still uses the same techniques to deceive that he did in heaven. This is a long article, but will be of special interest to many people.^ Return to Top

Is there a Devil?

There are some who deny the supernatural, denying that there is either a God or a devil. However in many primitive peoples on this earth, the devil is all too real to be denied. To the Christian the Bible is clear as to the presence of the devil, and the Christian who has felt the power of God in his life has no question. From the first, Satan has tried to deceive people, and claims to bring benefit to men rather than a curse. Satan does not advertize his presence, but rather deceives men into living for themselves rather than for God.

Yet the power of Satan can be seen in the greed, lust, oppression, hatred, and crime so rife in the world today. Every effort to correct these problems seems to eventually fail, and things go from bad to worse. Yet it is the duty of every Christian to hold back the tide of evil where he can.

So, is there a Devil? Yes! Then where did he come from?
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Where it all Began
Adapted from Patriarchs and Prophets by Ellen G. White

Little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for self-exaltation... Though all his glory was from God, this mighty angel came to regard it as pertaining to himself. Not content with his position, though honored above the heavenly host, he ventured to covet homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it was his endeavor to secure their service and loyalty to himself. And coveting the glory with which the infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone.

... In heavenly council the angels pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance... To dispute the supremacy of the Son of God, [Lucifer] ... was about to bend the energies of that master mind, which, next to Christ's, was first among the hosts of God...
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A Special Council with the Angels

The King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled both... Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of all the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and allegiance were due... But in all this He would not seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God's plan...

The angels joyfully acknowledged the supremacy of Christ, and prostrating themselves before Him, poured out their love and adoration. Lucifer bowed with them, but in his heart there was a strange, fierce conflict. Truth, justice, and loyalty were struggling against envy and jealousy... As songs of praise ascended in melodious strains,.. the spirit of evil seemed vanquished;.. his soul went out, in harmony with the sinless worshipers, in love to the Father and the Son. But again he was filled with pride in his own glory... "Why," questioned this mighty angel, "should Christ have the supremacy? Why is He honored above Lucifer?"
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Quiet Dissent

Leaving his place in the immediate presence of the Father, Lucifer went forth to diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. He worked with mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God. He began to insinuate doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that ... angels, being more exalted, needed no such restraint, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide...

Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him,.. he so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned... He cunningly drew his hearers on to give utterance to their feelings; then these expressions were repeated by him when it would serve his purpose, as evidence that the angels were not fully in harmony with the government of God... While secretly fomenting discord and rebellion, he... caused it to appear as his sole purpose to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace.

The spirit of dissatisfaction was thus kindled... There were some who looked with favor upon Lucifer's insinuations against the government of God. Although they had heretofore been in perfect harmony with the order which God had established,.. they were now dissatisfied with His purpose in exalting Christ. These stood ready to second Lucifer's demand for equal authority with the Son of God.

But angels who were loyal and true ... endeavored to reconcile this disaffected being to the will of God. Christ was the Son of God; He had been one with Him before the angels were called into existence. He had ever stood at the right hand of the Father; His supremacy, so full of blessing to all who came under His benign control, had not heretofore been questioned... Wherefore should there now be discord? The loyal angels could see only terrible consequences from this dissension...
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Open Rebellion

In great mercy, according to His divine character, God bore long with Lucifer... Lucifer himself had not at first been acquainted with the real nature of his feelings; for a time he had feared to express the workings and imaginings of his mind; yet he did not dismiss them... Such efforts as infinite love and wisdom only could devise, were made to convince him of his error. His disaffection was proved to be without cause. He was made to see what would be the result of persisting in revolt.

Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong. He saw that "the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17); that the divine statutes are just, and that he ought to acknowledge them as such before all heaven. Had he done this, he might have saved himself and many angels. He had not at that time fully cast off his allegiance to God. Though he had left his position as covering cherub, yet if he had been willing to return to God,.. he would have been reinstated in his office.

The time had come for a final decision; he must fully yield to the divine sovereignty or place himself in open rebellion. He nearly reached the decision to return, but pride forbade him. It was too great a sacrifice for one who had been so highly honored to confess that he had been in error, that his imaginings were false, and to yield to the authority which he had been working to prove unjust.

... Lucifer pointed to the long-suffering of God as an evidence of his own superiority, an indication that the King of the universe would yet accede to his terms... He persistently defended his own course, and fully committed himself to the great controversy against his Maker. Thus it was that Lucifer, "the light bearer," the sharer of God's glory, the attendant of His throne, by transgression became Satan, "the adversary" of God and holy beings...

Rejecting with disdain the arguments and entreaties of the loyal angels, he denounced them as deluded slaves... He had determined to claim the honor which should have been given him, and take command of all who would become his followers; and he promised those who would enter his ranks a new and better government, under which all would enjoy freedom. Great numbers of the angels signified their purpose to accept him as their leader. Flattered by the favor with which his advances were received, he hoped to win all the angels to his side, to become equal with God Himself, and to be obeyed by the entire host of heaven.

Still the loyal angels urged him and his sympathizers to submit to God. They warned all to close their ears against Lucifer's deceptive reasoning... Many were disposed to heed this counsel, to repent of their disaffection, and seek to be again received into favor with the Father and His Son... The mighty rebel now declared that the angels who had united with him had gone too far to return ... The only course remaining for him and his followers, he said, was to assert their liberty, and gain by force the rights which had not been willingly accorded them.
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Sin Must Be Fully Exposed

God permitted Satan to carry forward his work until the spirit of disaffection ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that their true nature and tendency might be seen by all... God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but of all the worlds that He had created; and Lucifer had concluded that if he could carry the angels of heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also all the worlds. He had artfully presented his side of the question, employing sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. His power to deceive was very great. Until fully developed, it could not be made to appear the evil thing it was; his disaffection would not be seen to be rebellion.

Lucifer had at first so conducted his temptations that he himself stood uncommitted. The angels whom he could not bring fully to his side, he accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. The very work which he himself was doing, he charged upon the loyal angels. It was his policy to perplex with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God. Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah.

The discord which [Satan had caused, he] charged upon the government of God... He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the statutes of Jehovah. Therefore God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his claims... His own work must condemn him.
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The Longsuffering of God

God could employ only such means as were consistent with truth and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not – flattery and deceit. He had sought to falsify the word of God and had misrepresented His plan of government, claiming that God was not just in imposing laws upon the angels; that in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, He was seeking merely the exaltation of Himself. It was therefore necessary to demonstrate before the inhabitants of heaven, and of all the worlds, that God's government is just, His law perfect.

Even when he was cast out of heaven, infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan. Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence... Had he been immediately blotted out of existence, some would have served God from fear rather than from love. For the good of the entire universe through ceaseless ages, [Satan] must more fully develop his principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light by all created beings, and that the justice and mercy of God and the immutability of His law might be forever placed beyond all question.  (End of Quotation)
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Lucifer was the Highest Angel in Heaven

Lucifer became proud of his God-given talents and beauty, and envied Christ for His position. Ezekiel 28:12-19 uses the king of Tyre as a symbol for Lucifer and speaks of his talents, beauty, and wisdom. He held the highest position of any created being in heaven, as the angel that covered the very throne of God. Yet envy ripened into sin, rebellion, and violence. In the end God would have to destroy His greatest angel. Read the following passage:

    12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
    13 “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
    14 “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
    15 “Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
    16 “By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
    17 “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.
    18 “Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
    19 “All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more” (Ezekiel 28:12-19, KJV).

Isaiah describes Satan’s pride and his desire to exalt himself even above God. Yet in disconnecting himself from God, he could only place himself on the road to death.

    12 “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
    13 “For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
    14 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
    15 “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
    16 “They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms” (Isaiah 14:12-16, KJV).^ Return to Top

The War in Heaven

These verses in Revelation describe a war in heaven (Revelation 12:3,4, 7-13, 17). It was a war for the loyalty of the angels, and Satan managed to deceive one third of the angels and cause them to be cast out to earth with himself. The beginning of the war is described in the topic , Where It All Began. For humans it is evidenced by the tree of knowledge of good and evil in Eden. Here Satan used the serpent as a medium to talk with Eve.

Even after Satan was first cast out to this earth, he still had access to the “gates of heaven” as shown in the story of Job. Going back to Revelation 12 again, Satan was cast out again after the crucifixion of Christ, and was no longer permitted to come to the gates of heaven as before. Satan is called the dragon, that old serpent, the devil, and Satan. He is also the accuser of the brethren. This characteristic is shown in Zechariah chapter three.

The story of Job (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-6) is also significant in that it shows that Satan is not free to tempt and torment God’s people, except as God will allow. And God will allow a person to be tempted only to the extent that he is able to bear it. These trials and temptations serve to point out those faults and besetting sins that every one of us still needs to overcome by grace.

    “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, KJV).^ Return to Top

Satan’s Purposes Now

When Jesus came to earth, the methods and purposes of Satan were revealed more clearly than ever before. After the crucifixion, any lingering sympathy in the hearts and minds of the sinless angels was completely removed.

Matthew 11:1-11 shows the deception of the evil one and his trying to take advantage of Christ when he was hungered by his 40 day fast. Satan’s dogged opposition to Christ during Jesus’ life on earth showed Satan’s persistent rebellion. And the unfairness and cruelty of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion showed Satan’s malignant hatred -- a hatred that would lead him to murder even God Himself. Finally, the Resurrection shows that Jesus is victorious and Satan is a weakened and defeated foe!

What is there left to do? Satan can no longer reach Christ, the Son of God. However, he can reach His people, and he does all he can to tempt, discourage, persecute, and even kill them. In all this Satan is trying to show that grace is not sufficient to save, and that Jesus died on the cross in vain. It is the call to every Christian to show that Satan is wrong, and to allow the work of grace to make of each one of us a “new creature” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
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